Sand pile

Ya can’t tell her no when she’s having this much fun!
Besides a little dirt never hurt – that’s what tubs are for!
(or in her case, sinks!)

Look @ that dirty face! :o)

Time for a bath in the kitchen sink –
so mom can “kill 2 birds with 1 stone”; make dinner and give her a bath!

Water Droplets

The other morning I was cleaning Isabel up with a washcloth after breakfast
and was lifting her from her booster chair when she got all excited and
started saying “eart…momma…eart!” At first I was a little perplexed as to
what she was meaning but after she kept saying “eart…momma…eart!”
I began to understand she was saying “heart” and pointing at the place mat.
A quick glance at the place mat from me and at first I didn’t see
anything but water droplets. However as she pointed out the “eart” to me,
I realized it was a heart from a water droplet!

McChord Air Expo July 19th – 20th 2008 part 3

The air show is about to begin so we are going to head to our seats and watch. Enjoy!

This is a HC-130 Hercules and is used to extend the range of combat and search and rescue helicopters by providing air refueling.

UH-1 Huey/UH-1 Iroquois or “Huey” famous for it’s Vietnam War use. The “u” stands for utility, in contrast to attack of cargo helicopters. The last were produced in 1976 with more than 16,000 made in total.

Let the air show begin!

Wings of Blue.
The U.S. Air Force Academy began parachuting in 1964 when Cadet First Class Jay Kelley and Cadet Third Class Pete Johnston paired and won a novice team accuracy event – the Academy’s first gold medal in collegiate competition. The Air Force Academy is the only jump program in the U.S. authorized to allow students to perform unassisted free fall delays on their first jump without any prior experience!

Wings of Blue flag drop.

This is called the USAF “Heritage Flight”
and involves the P-51 Mustang and the F/A-18F Super Hornet.

Isabel showing off her earplugs.

This is called the U.S. Navy’s Tailhook “Legacy Flight”
and honors the people and aircraft who defeated our nation in the Navy.
The program was established in 1999 and involves todays state-of-the-art fighters flying in close formation with World War II, Korean and Vietnam Navy and Marine Corps fighters.

U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds honoring 6 men before they start their flight show.

U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds “diamond” formation.
Leader: Lt. Col. Greg Thomas
Left Wing: Maj. Christopher Austin
Right Wing: Maj. Kirby M. Ensser
Slot: Maj. Scott Poteet

McChord Air Expo July 19th – 20th 2008 part 2

We actually got to the base just after the gates opened to the public at 8 am. The event was free and drew a crowd for both days of 377,616 people! The next Air Expo is tentatively set for 2010. Enjoy!

The U.S. Air Force Thunderbird planes.

This is a MH-65 Dolphin helicopter.

This is MH-60R Seahawk.

This is the MH-130P Combat Shadow and does low-level refueling missions and resupplies of special operations forces by airdrop or airland.

This is a E-3 Sentry and provides all-weather surveillance, command, control, and communications to the United States, United Kingdom, France, Saudi Arabia, and NATO air defense forces.

Isabel enjoying a plain pretzel before looking at more aircraft.

This is the C-5 Galaxy and is used to carry oversized cargo and
is the largest military aircraft in the world.
I thought the C-17 was big…this thing is HUGE!!!

Inside the C-5 Galaxy.
Can you see Gino and Isabel?

This is the RC-135 Rivet Joint and is used to support theater and national-level consumers with near real-time on-scene intelligence collection, analysis and dissemination capabilities.

McChord Air Expo July 19th – 20th 2008 part 1

This weekend we headed south to McChord Air Force for the McChord Air Expo. The aerial acts that we got to watch were a C-17A airdrop and tactical demonstrations, U.S. Air Force Academy Parachute Team, Jacquie Warda, Air Force Reserve Jet Car and race, F-15C demonstrations, USAF Heritage Flight, Bud and Ross Granley Dueling YAKS, F/A -18 Super Hornet demonstration, U.S. Navy Tailhook Legacy Flight, Tim Weber, a reenactment of the bombing of Pearl Harbor by “Tora, Tora, Tora” and the U. S. Air Force Thunderbirds. On the ground we got to see up close several different aircraft and a few of them we even got to walk inside – how cool is that! Enjoy!

This is called a C-17A Globemaster III and is a cargo aircraft.
We see these flying over our house all the time. The C-17A is very impressive for it’s size.

Inside the C-17A Globemaster III. The line that has formed is to climb a ladder to see the cockpit.

This is a F-22 Raptor.

The “nose” of the F-22 Raptor.

I have no idea what this aircraft is called but it was heavily guarded by an armed guard!

This is a Douglas B-18 Bolo and was used during World War II.

Front view of the Douglas B-18 Bolo. It’s top speed is 215 mph and can carry 6500 lbs. of bombs and has three .30-caliber guns and was flown by McChord’s 17th Bomb group. This aircraft is on display from the U.S. Air Force Museum.

This is a CV-22 Osprey and is a joint service, multi-mission, military tiltrotor aircraft with both a vertical takeoff/landing and short takeoff/landing.

This is the North America B-25 Mitchell used by Allied air force in World War II and was in service for over four decades.

Fencing – Days 3 and 4

Day 3: Gino headed out and finished up on the south side of the house over by the neighbors house. He would have been done sooner but then realized that the door was hung on the wrong post so he had to take down the completed door and redo the whole thing. What a bummer! It looks great though.

View of south side fence along neighbors property.

Inside view of completed south side fence and gate.

Outside view of south side fence and gate.
The patch of dirt in front of the gate will probably have grass.
As the day was drawing to a close Gino headed over to the north side to begin installation of that gate.

All that is left to be done…

Gino installing the hardware for the gate.

Showing Isabel how to attach the hardware.

Gino got all of this hardware installed and the wood attached and was ready to attach panels and be done; when he realized that the hardware wasn’t “square” and had to disassemble everything. Talk about frustrating!

Day 4: That next morning I exchanged the hardware and that night Gino finished the fence! Hurray!

Inside view of north side fence and gate.

Outside view of north side fence and gate.

Happy 1st Birthday!

Our friends the Wares little boy, Chris, celebrated his first birthday this past weekend! We know the Wares through Gino’s office and because their oldest son, Jimmy, is four days older then Isabel. So we headed north about an hours drive to spend the afternoon celebrating at the park. What fun!

The Wares: Jim, Val holding Chris, and Jimmy.

Cupcakes are so yummy – even more so when they are lemon flavored with lemon frosting! Yum!

Sharing chips…he wouldn’t take it. Jimmy was shy.

Isabel showing Chris how the toy we gave him works.

Happy birthday boy!

New park = loads of fun!

Swings! We don’t have swings at our park at home.

Jimmy was all over the playground; so trying to get a good photo was very hard to do.

Just one quick hug before we leave. Thanks for the invite Val, we had lots of fun and it was nice to get away from working on the home projects.

Dirty Girl!

Isabel loves to play in the dirt…but she doesn’t like to be dirty. Go figure?!?! This evening while Gino was finishing up the cutting of panels for the fence; we were outside just enjoy the evening together.

Isabel digging in the dirt. But later…notice that large rock in front of her; keep that in mind.

Dirty piggies!

Later while I was watching Isabel play; she was pretending to eat that large rock (see the first photo above) and when I asked her to show me. She plops down on the ground, bends over to the rock, begins to lick it, sits up and pretends to chew! GROSS – Isabel!!! Hence, the dirty cheeks and mouth (the orange tint below her mouth is from a sugar free Popsicle earlier). You so need a bath – dirty girl! :o)